Dominant first half enough for Bulldogs

STAFF WRITER - A funny thing happened on the way to a Tracy High blowout on Friday.

Stephen Roberson

STOCKTON - A funny thing happened on the way to a Tracy High blowout on Friday.

Lincoln High showed up in the second half.

The Bulldogs held on, barely, to beat the Trojans 41-39 at A.G. Spanos Stadium when Lincoln's attempted 2-point conversion came up short. The win was the first for Tracy over Lincoln in four years and the first for fourth-year head coach Matt Shrout.

"I'm just glad that we got a win out here," Tracy fullback Nate Jones said. "It's a great feeling."

Lincoln quarterback Ravon Alexander, knocked out of the game with an ankle injury on the previous possession, hobbled back onto the field and found Cameron Crump with a 30-yard touchdown pass with 2 minutes, 7 seconds to play to cut Tracy's lead to 41-39.

It was the Trojans' fifth unanswered second-half touchdown, and the third on an Alexander pass, but Mark Russell was stopped on the 2-point conversion try and the Bulldogs recovered the ensuing onside kick. With Lincoln out of timeouts, Tracy ran out the clock.

"You can't expect to play a half like we did in the first and expect to come out with a win," Lincoln head coach Brian Gray. "But our kids clearly did, and we had a chance to tie it, and then who knows what's going to happen."

Jones, who finished with 12 carries for 161 yards, had 11 carries for 162 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, helping Tracy take a commanding 35-7 lead at halftime. The Bulldogs won the yardage battle in the first half, 325-71. That lead jumped to 41-7 when Josh Clark recovered an offensive fumble in the end zone early in the second half.

But Jamill Thomas scored on a 4-yard run with 6:13 left in the third, and the comeback was on.

"I was so surprised in the first half," Shrout said. "Then I was equally shocked. I never thought they could have done what they did to us in the second half.

"A win's a win I guess. We'll take it."

Stephen Robinson had two touchdowns for Lincoln, one on a 97-yard kickoff return, and Thomas scored twice.